120 NATURAL HISTORY AND TOPOGRAPHY OF GROTON, MASS. 



toward Cambridge. Groton Gore in New Hampshire is also 

 represented, and appears under the name of Groton. 



On April 7, 1873, the town voted that the Selectmen be 

 instructed to establish Street Lamps in the village. Between 

 that date and November, 1889, the number was gradually in- 

 creased until there were sixty-eight such lamps. At the same 

 meeting it was also voted to build a lock-up for prisoners. 

 As early as the spring of 1861, a similar lock-up was ordered 

 to be built at South Groton (now Ayer). 



OXEN. 



I AM told on good authority that to-day there are only three 

 pair of oxen in Groton, while in my boyhood they were 

 counted by hundreds. Every considerable farmer then had 

 in his barn two or three yoke of oxen and one or two pair 

 of steers. After a big snow-storm in winter it was the cus- 

 tom often to join together two ox-sleds, side by side, and 

 hitch up a team of thirty or forty yoke, four oxen abreast. 

 Then the farmers would drive through the deep drifts and 

 break out the roads in the district. Sometimes they would 

 come into the village with the long team and many drivers. 

 It used to be great sport for the boys to get a ride on the 

 sleds, which were always crowded with men and youngsters. 

 This work did not cost the town any money, but was prompted 

 solely by a neighborly interest in the welfare of others. 



From time to time a " beef crittur " would be fattened and 

 killed for meat, and thus help to eke out the expenses of the 

 farm. A pair of steers would soon be ready to take the 

 place of a yoke of oxen. 



According to returns made by the Assessors of the town 

 to the Commonwealth in the year, 1845, there were 1445 

 "neat cattle" in the town, but of this number many were 

 cows. 



